Whoosh—
Fūjin Taichi instantly appeared beside a building a hundred meters away with the milk-tea girl in his arms. He set her down and said,
"Hide here. I'll go finish it off."
"B-Big brother… I'm scared…"
The girl tugged timidly at Taichi's shihakushō.
"Scared? If you're scared of 'heat,' drink some herbal tea!"
Taichi grabbed a can of herbal tea from a nearby vending machine, handed it to her, and vanished with another whoosh.
When he reappeared, Taichi was already back at Yasutama Cemetery.
There, the white-masked Hollow—its body covered in long, dark-green fur—was greedily devouring a short-haired woman, making wet smacking sounds as it ate.
"Kehehehe… delicious female souls… my favorite!"
"Bakudō #4: Hainawa!"
Taichi leapt in front of the Hollow and instantly fired a binding spell. A rope-shaped band of spiritual light snapped into existence, tightly binding the Hollow's short limbs.
"What?! It's you again?!"
The Hollow was shocked—it could feel that this crimson light rope was far harder to break free from.
"Game over."
Taichi pressed his left palm against the Hollow's mask and softly chanted:
"Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! Hadō #31: Shakkahō!!"
BOOM!
A blazing red fireball slammed directly into the Hollow's mask with a thunderous explosion.
The white mask shattered instantly, revealing a grotesque, twisted face beneath.
"Curse you..."
The Hollow groaned and collapsed slowly to the ground, its body smoking and charred, releasing a stench like a dead rat rotting in a sewer.
"I haven't even released my Zanpakutō yet, and you're already down?"
Taichi raised his blade, sneering at the dying Hollow.
"Then let me send you on your way."
Slash!
Taichi cleaved the Hollow in one stroke—
Only to freeze in surprise.
The Hollow's body melted like sludge, gurgling as it spilled across the ground, filling the air with a revolting stench of rotten eggs mixed with sewage.
Whoosh—!
Suddenly, a crimson tentacle lashed out from behind!
Taichi's instincts screamed. He raised his Zanpakutō to block—
Smack!
A massive force slammed into him, sending him flying.
Clang!
His Zanpakutō, Kyūjūkyū, slipped from his grip and embedded itself deep into the trunk of a massive cypress tree over ten meters away.
"What?! You're—!"
Taichi stabilized himself and stared in disbelief—
The one who attacked him was none other than the short-haired woman the Hollow had been chewing on earlier!
"Kehehehe… Shinigami!
That thing was merely my parasitic body. This is my true form!"
The pale-faced woman extended her tongue, licking her dark-purple lips as she smiled cruelly.
"In recognition of you destroying my parasite, I'll tell you my name—
I am Grand Fisher, a high-class Hollow closest to becoming a Gillian!"
"So it's you, the small fry! No wonder..." Taichi muttered, realization dawning on him.
If I remember correctly, Grand Fisher was another Hollow modified by Aizen.
That's why it can speak, calls itself high-class, and clearly possesses intelligence.
And in the original Bleach storyline, while this thing's raw strength isn't impressive, its kill record is terrifying—
For over fifty years it evaded the Gotei 13, defeated countless stationed Shinigami…
Even the future 'cheat character' Kurosaki Ichigo couldn't kill it.
Hell—Kurosaki Masaki, who could one-shot captain-level Arrancar created by the Hōgyoku, was killed by this bastard.
Even if Yhwach should shoulder the blame…
the fact remains—Masaki died by Grand Fisher's hand.
"Oh? You've heard of my name, Shinigami?"
Grand Fisher sounded amused.
"Yeah… 'Small Fry' should be a pretty accurate translation, right?"
Taichi shrugged. "Fish is fish, after all."
"Damn you! I'll devour you, Shinigami—!"
Grand Fisher roared in fury.
"But still…"
Taichi narrowed his eyes.
"For a small fry, you're fairly clever—stalling for time and summoning lesser Hollows…"
He paused, then continued coolly:
"Or should I say—your true body is so fragile that once you lose a parasitic host, you're completely helpless… so—"
"Kehehehe… looks like you figured it out, Shinigami!!"
Grand Fisher let out a low, vicious laugh and said darkly,
"What a shame… it's already too late!!! ROAR—!"
"ROAR—!"
"GRAAAH—!"
At some unknown point, dozens of Hollows had already appeared around Yasutama Cemetery. Their masks came in all kinds of bizarre shapes—birds, beasts, and everything in between. Pairs of blood-red eyes locked firmly onto Fūjin Taichi.
"If—"
Surrounded by dozens of Hollows, Taichi remained calm and spoke evenly.
"if you were Gillians or higher-class Menos, I'd get on my knees right now and sing you a funeral dirge!
But the reality is—you're just a bunch of low-level Hollows with no intelligence, only capable of screaming and howling… so—"
"So what, Shinigami?!"
Grand Fisher walked over to the cypress tree, reached out, and pulled Zanpakutō · Kyūjūkyū free. Grinning, it said,
"Without your Zanpakutō, what can you do now? Kneel and beg for mercy?!"
"Hehehe… a Zanpakutō that can't achieve Bankai is no different from a fire poker."
"You want it? Then take it—I'll give it to you!
After all, I just happen to have another one—shorter, sure, but it'll do!"
As he spoke, Taichi reached behind his back and drew his other, shorter Zanpakutō.
This shorter blade wasn't much longer than a dagger. Held in his left hand, it looked almost like he was about to commit seppuku, giving the scene an oddly comical air.
"Oh?"
Grand Fisher snorted in surprise. Though it didn't believe a low-ranking Shinigami like Taichi could survive being surrounded by dozens of Hollows—
But out of caution, it drifted back ten meters, hiding behind several large, fierce Hollows while clutching the stolen Kyūjūkyū.
"Hmph… small fry, watch closely. My battles end in an instant."
Taichi gripped the short blade. His figure paused for a split second—
Then vanished completely.
What?! Is that Shinigami Shunpō?!
Grand Fisher was secretly alarmed.
But it quickly rejected the idea—
Because at the instant Taichi disappeared, there was no fluctuation of spiritual pressure at all.
It was as if he had been forcibly erased from the world.
Splurt—
A short, razor-sharp Zanpakutō suddenly pierced straight through Grand Fisher's head.
Crack!
Its pale-white mask shattered instantly, and its body began to fade away.
"What… when did it happen…?"
At the moment of death, Grand Fisher used the last of its strength to murmur the question.
"..."
Taichi didn't answer.
He calmly took Zanpakutō · Kyūjūkyū back from Grand Fisher's fading grasp, held it horizontally before his chest, and shouted in a low voice:
"Face the Wind! Hasagi—!"
BOOM!
A five-meter-wide wall of white wind erupted in front of him, cleaving the incoming Hollows in half. They let out final wails before dissolving into nothingness.
Gripping the short blade, Taichi vanished with a whoosh.
When he reappeared, he was already above more than a dozen Hollows. He barked:
"Gale Slash!"
A flash of cold light streaked past—
Three thousand razor-sharp winds fused into a massive green blade of air, forming a towering tornado that instantly shredded the Hollows below into fragments!!
"GRAAAH—!"
The remaining dozen or so Hollows—lacking intelligence and incapable of fear—relied solely on their instinct to feed, howling as they charged at the ferocious Shinigami.
"Hadō #31: Shakkahō!"
Against these low-level Hollows, Taichi flashed through the horde with shunpo, mercilessly unleashing Kidō and reducing them one by one to ash…